A “smart card” is a common term used to refer to a card-like device, typically of the size of a credit card, that includes stored thereon a set of data, which is often specifically related to the bearer or user of the card. Smart cards often contain their data stored by means of magnetic storage (a “swipe strip” or “mag stripe”) or in a read-only memory (ROM) or random access memory (RAM), and usually include either a central processing unit (CPU) or a stored set of instructions in order to provide some degree of intelligence. The smart card arena has grown in recent years to include a variety of users and available applications. One such example is the banking world, where banks, brokerages, and other financial institutions have introduced the use of smart cards as electronic wallets for making electronic purchases and electronic payments.
A problem with the traditional type of electronic wallet is that the wallet needs to be charged, i.e., money needs to be ‘loaded’ into them, prior to use. Currently, one of the methods for loading electronic wallets is by using automated teller machines (ATM's) that have been specially adapted for this purpose, or through the use of special publically accessible dedicated card loading devices. In some cases, specialized public telephones may be used to make a telephone call with the smart card, and also to load the electronic wallet.
The same banks and financial institutions that currently support or anticipate supporting the use of smart cards have already implemented a lot of homebanking services such as phonebanking, PC banking, and Internet banking. A typical desired requirement of these applications is that they not be bound or restricted to being used at a restricted place or time. This is commonly referred to as the “triple A concept”—that the application be accessible anywhere, anytime, anyhow. To allow this flexibility while at the same time ensuring adequate controls and security, these homebanking applications normally require the user to use a digital token—a secure mechanism by which to identify a user or to encrypt the user's communications with the bank.
There is today a large demand to use the existing smart cards already in circulation to support new remote banking applications. This demand is spurred largely by a desire to create a return on investment already made by various banking organizations, but also by a desire to get the user acquainted with his/her electronic wallets and to encourage its use in a variety of different ways at an increasing number and variety of establishments. There also exists today a combined demand to offer to banking customers a homebanking feature together with an ability to remotely load the smart card. Such loading devices are currently available in the marketplace but they are expensive because they need to be specially adapted for each different banks loading or payment scheme, and require specialized applications to be installed within the internal operating software of the device.
To encourage the growth of secure smart card technology within society, and to provide a satisfactory return on investment for those industries, such as the banking industry, which have historically been early adopters of the smart card format and its applications, a method is clearly needed to allow rapid, easy, and low-cost distribution of smart card technology and their associated readers, to the widest available audience or marketplace.